Management Accounting in Public Sector: Application Status and Development Strategies

This study examined the status of management accounting application in the public sector and its development strategies. To this end, electronic questionnaires distributed to 96 participants were used to obtain the necessary data. The data were analyzed using a one-sample t-test. The result showed that management accounting functions are not implemented correctly in the public sector. For instance, lack of knowledge of managers regarding management accounting functions, lack of experts in key and crucial positions, incomplete application of accrual accounting convention, neglect of future-oriented data, lack of accountability in the public sector, delay in submitting financial data, and preference for political managers over qualified ones have all contributed to the subpar state of management accounting functions in the public sector. The results also showed that initiatives including promoting operational accountability systems, emphasizing management accounting in universities, recruiting professionals for public organizations’ financial departments, encouraging competition among public sector organizations, selecting managers based on their qualifications and evaluating their performance, establishing a performance management system in the public sector, ranking organizations according to how accountable they are to the public, offering practical skill training, holding relevant seminars and conferences, establishing a system for data-based decisions, and increasing managers’ understanding of management accounting’s functions can advance management accounting in the public sector.